Living Chinese

I have been using this term quite a bit lately, so I thought you might be interested in what it means to us. I am sure you have all put your own definition to what you think we mean but perhaps a little clarity to elucidate your fuzzification on what we mean when we say "Living Chinese". I believe it can be best defined through a series of small vignettes (stories for you Americans) that will demonstrate the act of "living Chinese". The term defies a single definition, but is more of a condition of life in China. It is not bad or good but always arrives unexpected, yet in the back or your mind it is always expected.
Our China Part Deux has been exceedingly easier for us but it is not been with out it's challenges and our biggest challenge, not being able to read the language. We can be looking for something or some place and one day find it right down the street by accident. It has always been there, plain as the signage it is written on. We however cannot understand the signage so it is easily overlooked in the hurly burly of life. We miss opportunities on a daily basis because we lack the ability to read the darn signs. Since we first arrived in Harbin, we have been walking over 20 blocks to buy peanut butter only to discover last week that it is available and has always been available in a market just off campus. Thankfully Skippy cannot be written in Chinese characters and so was written in pinyin on the sale sign. Pinyin is the Chinese characters translated into sounds using our recognizable alphabet and was done to assist poor Laowai (Pinyin for foreigners) to read Chinese phonetically. Our eyes
were drawn to the sign with the pinyin Skipy on it and voila, a new source of peanut butter.


This year Thanksgiving was arranged by a Newfie laowai ( East Coast Canadian) and was held at the local Holiday Inn. We were promised turkey, mashed potatoes and a bunch of other stuff nobody cared about. Not sure why a Canadian was organizing an American holiday but hey, that's what makes us Canadians. I digress. We arrived early at the hotel and were greeted by the delicious aroma of freshly cooked turkey. There sitting on the counter of the bar was a small (12-15 lbs) beautifully cooked tom ready for carving. Salivating, we impatiently waited for the carving to begin. At the appointed time we rushed the turkey guy who proceed to cut the most miserly portions. No matter how sadly you gazed into his steely eyes and begged for more, he denied every request and continued to mete out tablespoon size portions of turkey. Okay, no problem, we are wise in the ways of the Buffet, we will just go back for seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths and so on and so on. I did not put my Buffet pants on for nothing. The miserly portions were our clue that the hotel had only cooked one turkey. Thankfully we figured it our early and after five or so trips managed to put a little turkey away in a plastic bag for what must have been the smallest turkey sandwich ever seen on a Canadians dinner table. There were over 50 guests for dinner that night and if you arrived a little late, you were forced to choke down some Thanksgiving barbecued chicken brought in from a restaurant around the corner. Of course there was plenty of pork and fried rice so no one went home hungry. Living Chinese.


We held our 2nd All Most Annual HIT Foreign Teachers Ping Pong Tournament this past week. 13 contestants representing over half of the populated world. Winning countries included Russia, America, Japan, and of course no ping pong podium would be complete with out a Chinese member. Congratulations to Abbas, the Powerful Persian. The Iranian powerhouse dominated the American branson in a match that went the distance in the A Division.


Another contest for our regular readers. "Find the Canadians" in the picture above. Name them all, send us an email with all their names and win a chance for some fabulous prizes. I have attached a picture of our previous winners enjoying a prize winning day on the beaches of Hawaii. Congratulations Warners. Who will be next.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

November 11, 2010. Woke up to -17 Celsius this morning. Winter has come way to early this year. Two days previously, we had a high of +10, cloudy and wet. The perfect combination and the next day we awoke to 6" of beautiful white stuff. Snow tires were the hot sellers on campus with traffic brought to a standstill.

The snowplows were out. I am always astounded that a city of 4,500,000 uses very little heavy equipment and the snow is moved off the streets and sidewalks into trucks by hand. Only in China could this happen. Thousands of people with plastic snow shovels. Canadian Tire could make a killing here.

A little snow doesn't seem to slow down the Chinese desire to play basketball. The snow had barely stopped and they were out clearing a court. Basketball, seems a funny game for the Chinese to be fixated on. They are not exactly a country known for their large stature. The Yao Mings are few and far between.

The buses were busy. Oddly, traffic seems to move better after a snow fall. The private cars stay home and only taxis and buses dare to venture out on the roads. The buses are great, for about $0.15 you can go any where in Harbin. The buses don't run on set schedules, the just drive the route over and over till their shift ends. You will often see two buses from the same route arriving at the same time. Of course they are never the bus you are waiting for. The two buses will pass each other taking turns stopping at alternate bus stops. Some buses are shiny and new, and others would be considered death traps in most 3rd world countries. They are not heated but at this time of year, it is actually a pleasure to be travel in an over crowded bus. You can share the other riders body heat.

The week ended with a special treat. One of my students invited me to attend a student Peking Opera group that meets every Sunday to practice. At the practice they let me play in the band where I was in charge of cymbally type of instrument. The conductor would raise his magnificently thick eyebrows in my direction if he wanted me to ching ching. I was pretty good I thought. They invited Nonie and I to attend a traditional Chinese talent show the next weekend. We were were greeted at the door by one of the actors/actresses. In the old days, the opera was the domain of men and all the parts including the female roles were played by men. The young fellow in the picture had a lovely voice but perhaps a tad to much makeup for my taste. Beside opera, the show also included Chinese cross talk which was very funny and I found myself laughing with the audience even when I didn't know what they were saying. The two and one half hours seem to ZZZzzzz by. Listening to Peking Opera is a lot like listening to the bagpipes. It's fun for the first 10 minutes but you want to poke your ears out after 150 minutes.

Nonie and I are hosting the 2nd Almost Annual HIT Foreign Teachers Open Ping Pong tournament and attending a concert. More on that in our next blog.

New Pool, Crazy Ideas

Since we were last at HIT they have had the wisdom to build an lovely eight lane 50 metre swimming pool. There are actually two pools. The pools are built over each other and both are above the ground. One pool is located on the fourth floor and the other on the second floor. Changerooms are located on the third and the first floors. No elevator so you must walk up three flights of stairs to the changerooms and then up another flight to the pool deck. The other pool is for ????? At first I assumed it was for the HIT swim team to train but they seem to use our pool. The door is always locked so I have not been able to confirm that a second pool even exists but I have been assured it does. Interesting construction technique as it would have been significantly cheaper to build them both on the ground with the pools below grade as the structural requirements to support not one but two pools has got to be huge. I would love to talk to the architect. But that's just the facility guy in me coming out. But it it a nice addition and I have been taking advantage of it. There is no chloriney smell around the building, so I am not sure what disinfectant process they are using for the water but sometimes it is better if you don't know.

Our 60th birthdays are fast approaching and Nonie and I are both looking at ways to mark the occasions. Nonie is still pondering what hers will be but I would like to announce that I am going to take a stab at Ironman Canada in 2012. I have sucked one niece as well as one of our colleagues here at HIT to join me in my quest/stupidity. This precipitous announcement will make it more difficult for me to weenie out of training for the next 20 months and it would be a shame not to put the new pool to good use.

Are trip plans are gelling for our return to the west (flying east) on the winter break. More on the trip at a later date. The trip will involve traveling around the world once more, this time in only 48 days. We will depart Harbin on January 4th, 2011 and arriving back in Harbin on February 18th,2011 travelling east the whole way. This will be the second time we have circumnavigated the world. We traveled west the last time and felt a change was in order. Don't want to get into a rut. Stay tuned.

Getting The Munchies in China

It's 2:00 am, you are sitting in front of the tv watching something you just downloaded off the net because despite having over 60 channels, none of them are in English, you get a sudden urge for some chicken feet. Sure, sure, you are saying Brett, those look just like the chicken feet I can get at the 7/11. Well looks can be deceiving. They may look like Canadian chicken feet but do not be fooled. The most obvious give away is the fact that there is not one iota of les langues des Francais on the box. Secondly, the chickens toes are not finely manicured. You can be sure these chicken feet have never seen the inside of a 7/11. So be aware of knock off munchies and read those labels closely.

If those snacks just aren't putting an end to the rumbling in your stomach, then it is time to head outside and find the nearest 24 hour gruel restaurant.

If you really have the munchies, then I suggest a big bowl of the "Gruel of the Day". Comes with endless breadsticks and an all you can eat salad bar. Sadly that may not end the rumbling in your stomach but a least the rumbling won't be because you are hungry.

Snacking in China can be an adventure where reading the labels is not always a sure thing. They have chips in over 20 interesting flavours. Meat (Barbecue I think). Fish ( A sort of funky smoked salmon flavour). Pickle (Dill). Tomato Sauce (Ketchup). Shrimp (Have't had the guts to try that one). All Dressed (All of the above with a hint of salt and vinegar). Bon appetit!

But if all else fails, I suggest you make friends with as many people from diverse cultural backgrounds as you can. Meet Solmez and Abbas. A lovely Iranian couple who are grad students here at HIT. For the last two years they have lived in a single room in the foreign students dormitory. Tired of living in one room, they decided to find a small affordable appartment near the campus for themselves. Something with more than one room and a real kitchen. Three weeks of looking and they found the perfect place with a kitchen Nonie would kill for. We convinced them that in North America, it was a tradition to invite all your friends over for a meal to celebrate the new home. They bought it and we were rewarded with a fabulous 8 course meal of Iranian food. Sadly we could not convince them that it was necessary to serve their friends a meal every week for the first year that they lived in their new place. We may have gotten a little greedy. Thanks Solmez and Abbas.

The weeks seem to be flying by. We are always busy but often have time to catch a nap in the afternoon after those long lunches. We are now half way into this semester. We finished our student presentations and plays this week. ZZZZZZZZ! Between Nonie and I we heard over 25o presentations and 20 or so delightful plays/dramas put on by the students. I have come to realize that the Chinese are closet hams. To finish the week, on Sunday we were asked to be guest judges at an English speech competition for first year students at the second campus. Thankfully it was the finals and we only had to listen to 9 competitors. The students also had to prepare a 2 minute talent show to accompany the speech portion. Could have done with out that.

Knock It Off

There has been some scepticism expressed by a few of our regular readers (all two of you) that there can not be that many onions available to the residents of Harbin. So to put your mine at ease, please accept the following photographic proof of how onions have taken over the streets of Harbin. They are peaceful for the most part as long as you don't spook them. We found that if you tip toe through the onions, you can avoid many nasty incidents. Just makes you want to cry, doesn't it?

Guchi, Tommy Hilfinger, Dioer, Channel, Nikee, Faberg, all brands that are readily available on the streets and in the markets of Harbin. Students tell time with the Bolex Oysters that can be found on many of their wrists. But if you think this kind of thing is just for those expensive name brands, think again. You can also find Mr. Kleen, Sarah Lee cakes, Crust Toothpaste and the ever popular Krapht Dinner or KaiDee as it is affectionately known as here. We want for little here in Harbin.

Thanks to the kindness of strangers Nonie and I were gifted with a voucher for one night
with breakfast at the five star Shangri La Hotel here in Harbin. We quickly booked ourselves a room for Saturday and quit living Chinese for 24 hours. No Chinese spoken here, just English! Traditional North Americanesque food (Salmon Fettucinni for Nonie and Fish and Chips for Brett)! English TV News (Sadly only BBC and CNN) and the piece de resistance HBO showing movies we had already seen. We may do this again if we find living Chinese becoming wearisome. It was a nice escape. We also enjoyed the first snow squall of Harbin winter from the comfort of our 15th floor, centrally heated suite with a fully stocked mini bar. Returning to the real world the next day, Nonie made a new friend along the way. In a city of 9,000,000 you would think ducks would have something better to do then accost people on the streets. Don't get me started on those crazy gangs of chickens.

For the last few weeks, the students have been preparing formal presentations for class. So this past week, we have been listening and listening and listening some more. With more this week. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Some have been very inventive while others culled directly from the internet. More on that another time.

Signs of Winter

Sadly, it seems our Indian Summer has drawn to a close and we are starting to see minuses showing up in the weather forecast. We don't need to read the forecast to know that winter is coming. Trucks overflowing with onions and cabbages have started to show up on every street corner and any flat surfaces along the streets and alleys are covered in these onions and cabbages. Harbiners are drying them in preparation for storage and use during the winter. When they run out of street space they squeeze the onions and cabbages into every window ledge or balcony in their apartments. Even high end condos have onions and cabbages sprouting from their windows and balconies. Strata councils in Canada would have serious reservations about this practice but not a problem in Harbin. Cabbage and onions are a staple of most dishes in North East China cuisine which is also known as Dong Bei cuisine. The cuisine has become a favorite of Nonie and mine. For more signs of winter check out our October 2008 blog. They're baaaack!

Dumplings, comfort food for those long cold winters. It is the Canadian equivalent of a hot bowl of pea soup and crackers. Tomato soup for those of you with out any french heritage. The dumplings come stuffed with every kind of filling you can imagine. From simple pork stuffing to exotic vegetable and spices. Served steaming hot from the wok to your chopsticks. Add a little vinegar and soy for flavor and you can make a meal of them. They look easy to make but beware, fold them incorrectly and you will have a wok full of broken dough and stuffing floating around in the water. A lesson I learned the hard way.

Happy Canadian thanksgiving to you all you Canadians and wanna be Canadians out there. We hosted our second almost annual Thanksgiving dessert soiree this last week. A gathering of multiple nationalities enjoyed Nonie's cookies, carrot cake, lemon loaf and homemade bruschetta. It was enjoyed by all and included an impromptu singing of O'Canada by the resident Canadians (Brett, Nonie, Armin) Sadly no turkey but the American thanksgiving is coming up and we are pretty sure we can find a turkey feed somewhere.

Nonie and I will be attending another trivia night this week to defend our title. Keep posted. We are feeling invincible.

Pedestrian Perils

The China Daily (China's only English language daily) recently reported that private car sales have been increasing by double digits annually for the last several years. We can certainly vouch for that. During our last stay, the campus was relatively clear of moving and parked vehicles. Now, you would be hard pressed to find a parking spot anywhere on campus. Off campus, it is just nuts. Pedestrian rights do not exist. You may be fooled at first by the wide hash marked cross walks, pedestrian crossing signs and the little green men signs found everywhere. But once you been grazed by a kamikaze taxi or two, you quickly realize that these pedestrian accouterments are suggestions only and not taken seriously by Harbin drivers. The only thing that will stop a vehicle (that includes police vehicles) turning left is something bigger than them coming through the intersection. Sidewalks are just an easy and quick way for motorcycles, gas and electric scooters to avoid busy intersections and traffic jams. The electric scooters or stealth scooters as I like to call them, can sneak up on you quick especially when you are a law abiding Canadian and are under the mistaken assumption that sidewalks are for pedestrians. But on the plus side, you get a great workout just walking to the market.


The past few weeks have been very nice only having to work eight of the last 15 working days. We celebrated a national holiday, 61 years of communist rule in China. Enjoyed a free meal on the provincial government and rubbed elbows with some provincial muckymucks who tried to get me drunk on Chinese shooters, a delicious alcoholic drink that can be bought in various strengths from 25 to 80% alcohol. A week after drinking the stuff, you can still burp and taste it. I was told the stuff we were knocking back was 38% and had been made special for the provincial government to serve at dinners that would be inhabited by foreigners. Left unsaid but inferred was that foreigners could not handle the good stuff. (80%) Little did they know they were dealing with a 1/4 Newfie who had just been screeched a few months before, so I could laugh at their meagre attempts to get me drunk and lose face. That and the dinner was over in less than an hour, which when you subtract the time to eat over 12 of the tastiest dishes we have had in China, did not leave a lot of time for knocking back shooters. Take that Chairman Mao. One for the Canucks. But who's counting.



We finished the week with some bowling, a pasta dinner with Janie and Justin and a brunch with a few of our fellow teachers to celebrate our last day of the National Holiday. Nonie took advantage of the time off to throw a coat of paint on our livingroom walls. Thanks to a helping hand from Janie who left each day covered in pale blue spots. Nonie had asked for white paint but I guess the paint store person thought blue would be a nicer touch. She is learning to live with it.

A little late with this blog but will catch up in the next week. Congratulations to the Warner's who successfully answered the skill testing question in the last blog. Staves is the plural of staff. Not quite grammatically correct in this context but hey, they were trying. The Warners have won an all expense trip to the wonderful Hawaiian islands which they are currently enjoying. Aloha, Warners.